Geography

Submitted by sallyboardman on Thu, 2015-09-03 10:33

Tutors and Lecturers: Prof. Simon Dadson, Prof. Alexander Vasudevan

Places at Christ Church: 6

Geography is a subject that engages with the ‘big’ issues confronting humanity. The impact of carbon emissions on climate, global and local inequalities in welfare and employment, and the globalization of culture are all high on the geographer’s agenda. Oxford geography is distinctive in its rejection of the path followed by most other UK geography departments of splitting the subject into two by making students choose between taking an ‘arts’ or a ‘science’ geography course. All students take the same geography degree in Oxford which, while allowing specialization in particular branches, focuses on the central core of the subject where the human and physical geographical worlds meet.

The geography tutors provide tutorials for Christ Church undergraduates in the core courses of the geography degree and they advise and arrange teaching for the optional papers in the second and third years. Geography students are prominent in the intellectual and social life of the college. Contacts across the years is encouraged through the in-college Halford Mackinder Society. Christ Church is generous with its grants for field work and for book purchases. It has an excellent collection of books in the college library, including the main texts needed for the course. In recent years Christ Church geographers have entered a variety of postgraduate courses (including further geographical research and Masters courses in environmental science, law, development studies, and education), or have found work in central and local government, financial institutions and management consultancies, the media, and various environment-related NGOs.